Candidate In Pa. Primary Hit With Protective Order

April 30, 2022 4:06 am

HONESDALE, Pa. (AP) – A candidate in next month’s Republican primary for Pennsylvania lieutenant governor has been ordered to stay away from his home after his wife made claims of physical and mental abuse. Teddy Daniels was accused of making threats, saying he would kill the family dog and grabbing his wife by the shirt. A Wayne County judge granted a temporary protection from abuse order to Daniels’ wife on Tuesday. Daniels claims he has been “swatted,” or targeted with bogus calls leading state police to his home. He is vowing to stay in the race. Daniels is one of nine candidates seeking the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor.

Algorithm That Screens For Child Neglect Raises Concerns

April 30, 2022 4:05 am

Child welfare officials in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, the cradle of Mister Rogers’ TV neighborhood and the icon’s child-centric innovations, are using an algorithm to support agency workers as they make decisions meant to protect children from neglect. The AP identified several concerns about the technology, including questions about its reliability and its potential to harden racial disparities in the child welfare system. Related issues have already torpedoed some jurisdictions’ plans to use predictive models, such as the tool notably dropped by the state of Illinois.

American Killed Fighting In Ukraine

April 29, 2022 3:40 pm

(AP) – Relatives say a 22-year-old former U.S. Marine has been killed alongside Ukrainian forces in the war with Russia in what’s the first known death of an American citizen fighting in Ukraine. Rebecca Cabrera tells CNN her son Willy Joseph Cancel was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine. His widow, Brittany Cancel, tells Fox News he leaves behind a young son and that she sees her husband as a hero. The U.S. government has not confirmed the reports. On Friday, the State Department said it was aware of the reports and is “closely monitoring the situation” but could not comment further “due to privacy considerations.”

Tennis Great Boris Becker Heading To Prison

April 29, 2022 4:27 am

LONDON (AP) – Tennis great Boris Becker has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for illicitly transferring large amounts of money and hiding assets after he was declared bankrupt. The three-time Wimbledon champion was convicted earlier this month on four charges under the Insolvency Act and had faced a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. The 54-year-old German was found to have transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars after his June 2017 bankruptcy from his business account to other accounts. Becker was also convicted of failing to declare a property in Germany and hiding an $871,000 bank loan and shares in a tech firm.

Oklahoma House Sends Abortion Ban To Governor

April 29, 2022 4:25 am

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – The Oklahoma House has given final approval to a Texas-style abortion ban that prohibits abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. The bill passed Thursday by the GOP-led House now heads to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt. He’s expected to sign it within days. The bill was immediately challenged in court by abortion rights advocates. The measure prohibits abortions once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo. Experts say that’s typically about six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. Like Texas, the bill allows private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion for up to $10,000. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed a similar law in Texas to stand.

UN Head Condemns Attacks On Ukrainian Civilians

April 29, 2022 4:24 am

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – The head of the United Nations said Ukraine has become “an epicenter of unbearable heartache and pain.” That description was underscored a short time later by the first Russian strike on the capital since Moscow’s forces retreated weeks ago. Russia pounded targets all over Ukraine on Thursday, including the attack on Kyiv that struck a residential high-rise and another building and wounded 10 people, including at least one who lost a leg. The bombardment came barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The U.N. chief toured some of the destruction in and around Kyiv and condemned the attacks on civilians.

Google Adds Ways To Keep Personal Info Private

April 29, 2022 4:21 am

Google has expanded options for keeping personal information private from online searches. The company said Friday it will let people request that more types of information be removed from search results. These include personal contact information like phone numbers and email and physical addresses. The new policy also allows the removal of other information that may pose a risk for identity theft, such as confidential log-in credentials. The company said in a statement that open access to information is vital, “but so is empowering people with the tools they need to protect themselves and keep their sensitive, personally identifiable information private.”

Dry Southwest Braces For ‘Epic’ Fire Danger

April 29, 2022 4:20 am

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Thousands of firefighters have continued to slow the advance of destructive wildfires in the Southwest. But they’re bracing for the return of the same dangerous conditions Friday that sparked and spread the wind-fueled blazes a week ago. At least 166 residences have been destroyed in one rural county in northeast New Mexico since the biggest U.S. fire started racing through small towns northeast of Santa Fe last Friday. Winds gusting up to 50 mph are forecast Friday in the drought-stricken region. Fire behavior experts say it’s a recipe for disaster where timber the size of a 4-by-4 piece of lumber has a fuel moisture drier than kiln-dried wood.

Chauvin Appeals Murder Conviction For Killing George Floyd

April 28, 2022 4:56 pm

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is appealing his conviction for murder in the killing of George Floyd, arguing that jurors were intimidated by the protests that followed and prejudiced by heavy pretrial publicity. Chauvin asked the Minnesota Court of Appeals in a court filing this week to reverse his conviction, reverse and remand for a new trial in a new venue, or order a resentencing. Last June, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill sentenced Chauvin to 22 1/2 years in prison after jurors found him guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin pinned the Black man to the ground with his knee on his neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds.

Explosions Rock Kyiv Again As Russians Rain Fire On Ukraine

April 28, 2022 4:54 pm

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russia mounted attacks across a wide area of Ukraine on Thursday, bombarding Kyiv during a visit by the head of the United Nations. At least one person was killed and several were injured in the attack on Kyiv, including some who were trapped beneath the rubble after two buildings were hit. A spokesperson said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and his team were safe. The attack is the boldest the capital city has seen since Russian forces retreated weeks ago. Elsewhere, Ukrainian authorities reported intense Russian fire in the Donbas, the eastern industrial heartland that the Kremlin is bent on capturing.